Electro Acoustic action

[edstraker123]

I picked up an Ibanez  AEB10 for a steal of a price on ebay last night. The bass is immaculate - it was a newbie's who gave up, presumably because the action was so high. The neck is straight so the problem is saddle height.

Obviously this could be shaved (carefully) due to the Piezo, but would it be possible to slot it like a nut to reduce the height ? It did come with a spare saddle so I can experiment !

Is this a job best left to a luthier ?

 

[gary mac]

It should be possible to sand the bottom surface of the saddle. You need to be careful to keep it square and level whilst carry out the sanding though. I recall seeing a device recently for this very job but for a one off job probably not very cost effective.

The way I do it:

First off, ensure that the nut is set up correctly and the neck relief is as it should be.

Next, take note of which way the saddle sits in the bridge.

 

Place a sheet of coarse sand paper on to my work bench.

Calculate how much material I need to remove from the saddle (Removing 1 mm of saddle will reduce string height at 12th fret by approx half of that amount)

Use a pencil to mark the area to be removed.

Hold the saddle against a small block of hardwood to act as a support and aid in keeping the saddle square and level. 

Proceed to sand off the material, until the pencil shaded area just about disappears.

 

Put it back in the bass, restring and enjoy a lower action

[ikay]

I've done the same as gary mac with good results. Make sure the surface you sand on is perfectly flat (I did it on a glass table top). The first thing to check is whether you have enough 'headroom' on the saddle to be able to remove enough to achieve the action you want. The saddle of the stock AEB10 in the pic below looks pretty low already, even though the action is quite high.

Edited October 10, 2018 by ikay

[edstraker123]

Thanks both ,

My saddle looks a lot higher than pictured above - if I can get it down to that I reckon my problem would be solved. I will give it a try with my spare saddle so I can get back if it goes wrong.

BW

Ed.